Background/Purpose:A number of investigations have examined the training effects of combined elastic tension on the bench press. To date the acute effects of a training session with combined elastic tension in the bench press exercise have not been evaluated. The purpose of the present investigation was to determine how if at all combined elastic tension applied to a normal bench press training session affects power.
Method:Four male (20.5±2.1yrs, 1.82±0.07m, 112.68±15.03kg) and four female (19.9±1.7yrs, 1.76±0.05m, 100.78±28.47kg) college track and field athletes involved in the throwing events (shot put, discus, hammer) were recruited to participate in the investigation. The participants performed, in a counterbalanced within-subjects design, two bench press training sessions that consisted of 3 sets of 5 repetitions at 85% 1-RM. One session consisted solely of resistance provided by a standard Olympic barbell, the second session consisted of combined resistance where 85% of the overall tension was provided by an Olympic barbell and 15% was provided by Jump Stretch Elastic Bands (Jump Stretch Inc., Youngstown, OH.). Power was measured twice, with a minimum of 90 sec rest between measurements, at 50% of 1-RM following the conclusion of both lifting sessions using a Power Factor tether type potentiometer (Max Rack Inc., Columbus, OH.)
Analysis/Results:Analysis performed via repeated measures Ancova (Treatment by Time covaried for gender) revealed a significant main effect for Time (F= 5.951, p=0.05) and a significant two way interaction for Treatment*Time (F=54.093, p<0.001). The subjects initial measurement of power immediately following the training session was higher in the combined elastic treatment (437.5±34.89 watts) as compared to the free-weight only condition (391.88±41.01 watts).
Conclusions:Based upon these data it would appear immediately at the conclusion of a training session power production is greater with combined elastic and free-weight training as compared to free-weight training alone.